captain
Americannoun
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captains
plural
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a person who is at the head of or in authority over others; chief; leader.
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an officer ranking in most armies above a first lieutenant and below a major.
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an officer in the U.S. Navy ranking above a commander and below a rear admiral or a commodore.
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a military leader.
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an officer in the police department, ranking above a lieutenant and usually below an inspector.
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an officer of the fire department, usually in command of a company, ranking above a lieutenant and below a chief or assistant chief.
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the commander of a merchant vessel.
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the pilot of an airplane.
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a local official in a political party responsible for organizing votes on a ward or precinct level.
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Sports. the field leader of a team.
The captain of the home team elected to receive on the kickoff.
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a person of great power and influence, especially based on economic wealth.
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South Midland and Southern U.S. an unofficial title of respect for a man (sometimes used humorously or ironically).
verb (used with object)
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captains,
present (3rd person singular)
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captained,
past participle, past
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captaining
present participle
noun
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the person in charge of and responsible for a vessel
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an officer of the navy who holds a rank junior to a rear admiral but senior to a commander
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an officer of the army, certain air forces, and the marine corps who holds a rank junior to a major but senior to a lieutenant
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the officer in command of a civil aircraft, usually the senior pilot
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the leader of a team in games
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a person in command over a group, organization, etc; leader
a captain of industry
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a police officer in charge of a precinct
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(formerly) a head waiter
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Also called: bell captain. a supervisor of bellboys in a hotel
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informal a person who is buying drinks for people in a bar
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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captainsimple
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captainssimple
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have captainedperfect
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has captainedperfect
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am captainingprogressive
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are captainingprogressive
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is captainingprogressive
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have been captainingperfect progressive
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has been captainingperfect progressive
Past
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captainedsimple
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had captainedperfect
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was captainingprogressive
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were captainingprogressive
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had been captainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of captain
1325–75; Middle English capitain < Anglo-French capitain, captayn < Late Latin capitāneus chief, equivalent to capit- (stem of caput ) head + -ān ( us ) -an + -eus -eous
Explanation
A captain is the person in charge of a group. The captain of a high school soccer team is usually an elected or appointed leader. The word captain can describe any leader, but it's traditionally been the name for the person on a boat or ship with the highest rank. The captain of a fishing boat is responsible for making decisions about what route to take and how best to avoid bad weather. When she steers the boat, you can say she captains it. The word comes from the Late Latin capitaneus, "chief," from caput, or "head."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Earlier this week ex-Real Madrid captain Dani Carvajal, who had been without a club since his deal at the Bernabeu expired in June, joined Getafe on a free transfer.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
The 214-run loss in the first Test was the world champions' first defeat in captain Temba Bavuma's 13 matches in charge.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, speaking on The Overlap podcast,, external described the situation at his former club as "a bit of a circus".
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
He’s shadowed a dog groomer, a radio show host and a ramen shop owner, and is reviewing requests from an airline captain and a tattoo artist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Yes, the captain was back, and very merry, and had a funny medicinal smell about him.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Harry Brook captains England on both legs of the tour and is once again set to play across formats in every game of the winter.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Oil-tanker captains are being offered up to $100,000 per month to navigate the Strait of Hormuz.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
It noted that middle-rank fire captains were often more trusted than the formal command staff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
"Most German ship captains say, that's too shallow, I'm not sailing there anymore," Matthias Roeser, from the German Inland Shipping Association, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
He was not even sure if Cluny was shamming, pretending that his injuries were severe merely as some kind of test or trap that he had set for his captains.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Doing that would betray their ignorance of the show’s legacy, especially the five seasons that Allen captained.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
Boatsetter made the booking easy, and because the sailboat was captained by its owner, all I really had to worry about was keeping dinner from burning.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Last season, he captained the Chelsea Under-21 side, scoring 18 goals in 19 games.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
As a young man, by his account, he smuggled diamonds, oversaw coconut plantations, dynamited fish, captained schooners and hunted killer cannibals in the New Guinea jungle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
In 1958, some three thousand years later, photojournalist Peter Throckmorton was completing his second summer aboard a sponge diving vessel captained by Kemal Aras.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Later that day, he lifted the Champions League trophy after captaining Chelsea to victory against Manchester City.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Take a seat on a curvaceous wooden bench and imagine you’re captaining a spaceship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Keegan won 63 England caps over a period lasting almost a decade, scoring 21 goals and captaining the side 31 times.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Messi is Argentina's all-time record appearance-maker and goalscorer and his legend has only grown after captaining his country to World Cup glory in 2022.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Todd steered the boat like he was captaining a great yacht.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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